We find then that much about the time of Hippocrates, the Gymnastick Method began to be introduc’d into the Art of Physick; whether it was brought up by the School of the Cnidians, or any other Society of Physicians, or whether Herodicus first joyn’d it to the Dietetick, and so brought it into Request, I shall not undertake to determine; but we find by Hippocrates, in his third Book, de Dietâ, Sect. 12. That with some sort of Glory he assumes to himself the Honour of bringing that Method to a Perfection, so as to be able to distinguish Πότερον τὸ σιτίον κρατέει τοὺς πόνους, ἤ ὁι πόνοι τὰ σιτία, ἢ μετρίως ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα. Utrum cibus superat labores, aut labores cibos, aut moderatè inter se habeant; as he expresses it. Pursuant to this, we find him in several places of his Works, recommending several Sorts of Exercises upon proper Occasions; as first, Friction or Chafing, the Effects of which he explains in his Second Book, de Diæta, Sect. 42. And tells us, that as in some Cases it will bring down the Bloatedness of the Solid Parts, in other Cases it will incarn and cause an Increase of Flesh, and make the part Thrive; for, says he, Carnes Calefactæ ac siccatæ alimentum in seipsas per venas trahunt, deinde augescunt. He advises Walking, of which they had two Sorts, their round and streight Courses. He gives his Opinion of the Ἀνακίνηματα or Preparatory Exercises, which serv’d to warm and fit the Wrestlers for the more vehement ones. In some Cases he advises, the Παλὴ, or common Wrestling, and the Ἀκροκείρησις, or Wrestling by the Hands only, without coming close. The Κωρυχμαχία, or the Exercise of the Corycus, or the hanging Ball. The Χειρονομίη, a Sort of dextrous and regular Motion of the Hands, and upper parts of the Body, something after a Military manner. The Ἀλίνδησις, or rowling in Sand; and once we find mention’d with some Approbation the Ἤπειροι Ἵπποι, Equi Indefiniti, by which I suppose he means Galloping, long Courses in the open Field. These various Exercises are more amply describ’d by several Authors, and Mercurialis has Collected a very good account of ’em; they may seem strange to those who don’t consider what great Expences the Ancients were at in Building Academies, or Places every way convenient for these purposes; and as odd as some of these may be thought by us now, they were as commonly practis’d in those days, as Cupping is now in our Bagnio’s. And tho’ Hippocrates gives his Direction concerning these things, after his usual manner, in short Terms, yet ’tis plain he depended much on ’em, because he so frequently inculcates the Distinction of this or that sort of Exercise, to such and such a Distemper; and the People of those Times might find greater Benefit from those Exercises, than we do now from some of ours, which I doubt not are altogether as good; because they apply’d the Exercise to such or such a Medicine as the Physician thought fit, which gave it a greater Energy; and after its Operation had recourse to another milder Method, to take off the Heat or Disorder which might have been caus’d by the Medicine. In these Practices they were so dexterous and successful, that tho’ their Ætiology strictly taken, was wrong, yet if a Man diligently attends to their Reasoning from Effects, he may be satisfi’d, that they were able by these Methods to do some wonderful Cures; and indeed they sometimes had such surprizing Success, that the abovemention’d Herodicus, an Eminent Master of Exercises, thought he could Cure all Distempers by those Means, and went Empirically to work upon the Bodies of those who put themselves under his Care, and was so extravagant, as to attempt to Cure Fevers by such Methods, for which he is ridicul’d by Hippocrates, in the Sixth Book of his Epidemicks, and the Third Section.
As for Galen, he follows Hippocrates in this, as close as in other things, and declares his Opinion of the Benefit of Exercises in several places; his Second Book, de Sanitate Tuendâ, is wholly upon the Use of the Strigil, or the Advantage of Regular Chafing; he has wrote a little Tract, de Parvâ Pilâ, wherein he recommends an Exercise, by which the Body and Mind are both at the same time affected. In his Discourse to Thrasibulus, which is a Dispute, whether the Preservation of the Health properly belongs to the Art of Physick, or to the Gymnastick Art, he inveighs against the Athletick, and other violent Practices of the Gymnasium, but approves of the more moderate Exercises, as subservient to the Ends of a Physician, and consequently part of that Art.
The other Greek Writers speak much the same thing, and the Sense of most of ’em in this matter is contracted in Oribasius’s Collections. I shall only take Notice that they rely’d much on Exercise in the Cure of the Dropsie, wherein we almost totally neglect it; Porrò motus, si quid aliud (says Trallian, one of the latest of ’em) Hydropicis conducit, præcipuè qui fit per Mare, Equum, & Lecticam iis autem qui viribus constant, etiam Itio est utilissima; which is no more than what Hippocrates has advis’d before, in his de internis Affection. Sect. 28. He orders for one that has a Dropsie ταλαιπωρεέτω περιόδοισι πολλισι δι’ ἡμήρης, Laboret circuitus multos de die. And he makes use of the same Word in his Epidemicks, and almost always when he speaks of the Regimen of a Dropical Person, implying that tho’ it be a labour for such People to move, yet they must undergo it; and this is so much the Sense of Hippocrates, that Mons. Spon has Collected it into one of the New Aphorisms, which he has drawn out of his Works. Celsus says of this Case, Concutiendum multâ Gestatione Corpus est; and in another place, Facilius in Servis quàm in Liberis tollitur, quia cum desideret famem, sitim, mille alia tædia, longamq; patientiam, promptius his succurritur, qui facilè coguntur, quam quibus inutilis libertas est. I have made choice of these Citations, that I may not be thought to have apply’d the Use of Exercise to the Cure of the Dropsie, without Precedent; and if the Ancients in their Practice found the good Effects of it, we have much more reason to expect greater Advantage from such Measures, since we have a Medicine we use in this Case, which seems particularly to demand it; I mean the Chalybeate, of which I have already spoke elsewhere.
But to return to my former Design; not only the Greeks but the Latin Writers also, are full of these Methods. The Romans rather exceeded, than came short of the Greeks, in the Prosecution of Gymnastick Courses; and Asclepiades, who liv’d in the Time of Pompey the Great, was the Man who brought them into the most Universal Request. He call’d Exercises the common Aids of Physick, and wrote a Treatise, de Frictione, & Gestatione, which is mention’d by Celsus, in his Chapter de Frictione, but the Book is lost. He carry’d these Notions so far, that he invented the Lecti Pensiles, or Hanging Beds, that the Sick might be rock’d to sleep; which took so much at that time, that they came afterwards to make these Beds of Silver, and they were a great part of the Luxury of that People; he had so many particular ways to make Physick agreeable, understood so well the Τὸ Βέλπον of his Profession, was so exquisite in the invention of Exercises to supply the Place of much Physick, that perhaps no Man in any Age ever had the happiness to obtain so general an Applause; and Pliny says, he by these means made himself the Delight of Mankind.
About his Time the Roman Physicians sent their Consumptive Patients to Alexandria in Ægypt, and with very good Success, as we find by both the Pliny’s; this was done partly for the Change of Air, but chiefly for the Sake of the Exercise by the Motion of the Ship, and therefore Celsus says, Si vera a Phthisis est, opus est longâ Navigatione; and a little after he makes Vehiculum & Navis to be two of the chiefest Remedies; and I am apt to believe they were the more inclin’d to make use of the Sea-Carriage, as an Exercise, for the sake of the Vomiting, which happens at the Beginning of it, that they might thereby supply their Want of gentle Emeticks, which at times are so beneficial in that Distemper, in which scarce any of the Emeticks which they then knew, can be us’d with Safety, and it was a great part of their Industry and Sagacity to make good what they wanted in Pharmacy by other Means. As for the other more common Exercises, that were daily practis’d, as it is very manifest from Celsus, Cælius Aurelianus, Theodorus Priscianus, and the rest of the Latin Physicians. And we don’t want Instances of the Cures wrought by these means. Suetonius tells us, that Germanicus was Cur’d of a Crurum Gracilitas, as he expresses it, I suppose he means an Atrophy, by Riding; and Plutarch in the Life of Tully gives us an account of his Infirmness, and that he recovered a great Measure of Health by Travelling, and excessive Diligence in Rubbing and Chafing his Body; and he himself in his Brutus, seu de claris Oratioribus, relates his Case, That he was so weak, that his Friends and Physicians advis’d him to leave off Pleading, which struck him so, that he thought he would undergo any Fatigue, rather than lose the Glory of his Profession, and so betook himself to Travelling, which with other regular Courses brought him to his Health again. Pliny, lib. 31. Cap. 6. tells us Annæas Gallio, who had been Consul, was Cured of a Consumption by a Sea Voyage; and Galen gives us such Accounts of the good Effects of particular Exercises, and all People so unanimously apply’d themselves with Patience and Resolution to these Practices, that it cannot be suppos’d, but they must have been able to produce great and good Effects.
If any one should ask me how it comes to pass that Riding, which I have substituted as equivalent to any or all the Exercises of the Ancients, in the Case of Sickness, was so little regarded by their Physicians, but other less valuable Exercises insisted on; it may be reply’d, that the Ancients could not recommend Riding to weak People, because of their manner of Riding; they had not the same convenience, as we have; for in those days they rode without Stirrups, which must needs be tiresome to weak Persons. We find by comparing of Medals, that the Stirrup was an Invention of a much later date, than any of the Authors I have quoted, I think by about Seven Hundred Years; so that Riding was only an Exercise for Healthy and strong Men; besides Horses were not so common in the Levant, or in Italy, as they are with us; they were reserv’d for Military Men, or at least for Men of Plentiful Fortunes, and the Ass and the Mule serv’d for common Carriage; the Horse was a formidable Creature to People that were not accustom’d to him, and especially to weak Persons. We see such a Jolly Fellow as Martial, could advise his Friend Priscus, to have a Care how he hunted, Lib. 12. Epig. 14.
Parcius utaris, moneo, rapiente Veredo
Prisce, nec in Lepores tam violen ter eas.